AE Hotchner (2nd at right from Hemingway), reveals regret for dismissing writer’s fear that he was being targeted by J Edgar Hoover.

For five decades, literary journalists, psychologists and biographers have tried to unravel whyErnest Hemingwaytook his own life, shooting himself at his Idaho home while his wife Mary slept.

Some have blamed growing depression over the realisation that the best days of his writing career had come to an end. Others said he was suffering from a personality disorder.

Now, however, Hemingway’s friend and collaborator over the last 13 years of his life has suggested another contributing factor, previously dismissed as a paranoid delusion of the Nobel prize-winning writer. It is that Hemingway was aware of his long surveillance by J Edgar Hoover’sFBI, who were suspicious of his links with Cuba, and that this may have helped push him to the brink. (More)